Birthday:August 6th 2000Coloration:Brown TabbyLikes:Blade loved suckling on my earlobe, being dragged all around the floor by the scruff of his neck while he regressed to being a kitten again, attending his daily rounds outside, being 'top cat'...Pet-Peeves:Soda, owners who don't spay and neuter their cats, being made to come inside when he wanted to stay outside, not being QUITE able to have EVERYTHING his own way all of the time.Favorite Toy:PURPLE WARRIOR - a large foam dragon on a wire, which he was obsessed with + All the toys from my Catster friends and girlfriend, Lucy - they were all special to Blade and he was buried with many of them.Favorite Nap Spot:Underneath the radiator, in front of the fire, outside in the sun, on our bed...basically, anywhere that was warm.Favorite Food:Blade was a dry food 'addict' - he would look at wet food like it was something he'd stepped in outside. However, Blade loved tuna and prawns and he had them every day of his life. He also liked to eat moths, marmite,organic lamb, bacon...Skills:Blade would cover any food he didn't finish with a piece of kitchen paper which I would leave nearby for him. When Blade was a young roaming juvenile (before he was ours) he made so many local 'cat people' want him - it really was a skill of his!Dwells:
indoors and outdoors Arrival Story:Blade belonged to a neighbour, but they moved house to over a mile away. Blade kept coming back though, he'd staked his claim on this area and as the un-neutered, up-coming 'top-cat' on the block, he wasn't prepared to give it up. Despite his previous owners attempts to keep him in his new house, he repeatedly tried to abscond, one time jumping from an upstairs window, badly breaking his front left leg which was repaired with a plate and screws. As soon as his cast was removed, he was off again and made his way back here with his withered little leg. After several weeks of his escape and re-capture routine, his previous owners agreed to let us keep him, for his own safety as he was crossing many busy roads each time he returned to his old turf. So we took Blade in and took him to be neutered, putting a stop to his bawdy, bad-cat lifestyle. We had him since he was one year old.
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After 8 1/2 years of being the center of our universe, Blade passed away on July 13th 2010 following a short but complicated respiratory illness which I believe to be Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. It was thought to be 'asthma' but didn't respond to treatment in the way 'asthma' should. His breathing difficulties in turn affected his heart causing Cor Pulmonale, or right sided heart failure.
Blade was a unique cat, full of character, who made many friends in his short but very full life. He had a busy day to day agenda and always had "places to go" and "business to attend to". He carried on his routine until the last 10 days of his life when we stopped letting him go outside for his own safety. He still wanted to go out, despite his weakened state. You can't keep a good cat down!
We will never forget Blade and indeed, we still feel he is here with us. Loved, remembered, missed, always...Bio:We believe Blade was taken away from his mother before he was properly weaned because he liked to suckle (human earlobe). He also obviously never learned that biting was wrong and bit us on a daily basis, usually to let us know he wanted something or didn't want to be touched at that moment (not hard enough to draw blood....just hard enough to hurt!). As a kitten, his mother would have taught him that biting was not acceptable behaviour, had she been given the chance, so we assume she was never given the chance. Sometimes he gave friendly 'love bites'... Blade just liked to communicate with his teeth!
Blade would have also like to recommend cat owners to spay and neuter their cats, to prevent litters of kittens that end up being unwanted pets. Thousands of healthy cats are put to sleep everyday, all over the world, because enough homes don't exist for them all - not to mention the ones that perish on the streets.
The only way to prevent the killing of unwanted pets is to spay and neuter your animals. Spaying and neutering SAVES LIVES! It also provides health benefits such as preventing certain types of cancer and makes a male cat a much nicer fur-boy to have around. He won't want to go out looking for females or getting into fights, which could result in him contracting Feline aids or Feline Leukemia Virus from a bite wound. He'll also be far less likely to go missing or killed on the roads (90% of cats killed by cars are un-neutered males).Forums Motto:BE RESPONSIBLE, SPAY AND NEUTER!The Groups I'm In:!~._.~Butts & The Face!~._.~!, ****PURRS AND WOOFS FOR THE MISSING****, **Tabbies With 'Tudes** , FANCYPANTS CAFE, I'm Not Orange; But I Am Proud, "Just One Litter" Is Still Too Many, A Catster Winter Carnival, AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY, Best Buddies Unite, BRIT KITS GROUP (DOGS WELCOME TOO), Bubbie and Phoebe's Wedding, Cats & Music, Digital Gift Makers Workshop!, Doc Hunter's House of Medicine, Dogster and Catster All Paws Bulletin!, Heart To Heart, Horror Fan Club., KITTIES WITH NARCISSTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER, Love 'em? Fix 'em., Ms. Tiger Woods and Zelda's Friends, Muppet's Bucket (HQ-approved fundraiser), Navin and Buds, NeuterNeuterLand, Paws with Claws, Pawsome Pages, PICTURE PURRRFECT **, President Isabel's Animal Abuse Commission, Purrs and Prayers For Amelia, Rowdy Naughty Bawdy Cats and Dogs, Stunning photos, Sweet Cats, Terrific Tabbies, The cats of England, The Hazel Lucy Appreciation Society, The NFL Fan Club, The Tom Cats Club, We Support Spay Neuter, ~~~*♥Dog Park USA♥*~~~The Last Forum I Posted In:The New Home of Hazel Lucy's List for Kitties in Need of

To all cat owners.... Important URGENT NOTICE ... If you use Beaphar Spot on flea treatment, the phials inside the cats pack should be white with a GREEN top, if they are white with a WHITE top DO NOT USE! They are the wrong product and can kill your cat. Any product should be returned to the shop for a recall refund. Please re-post this message wherever cat owners may see it - it's very important...CLICK HERE TO SEE INFORMATION ON BEAPHAR WEBSITE

Aside from the recall - these OTC flea products are NOT EFFECTIVE ANYWAY.
This maybe only a product available in Europe, I'm not sure.

Mum is 99.9% certain that this is what I had now. Everything seems to fit - my age, the cough, the difficulty breathing, the poor response to treatment and the fibrous appearance of my lungs on the ultrasound scan. Below is an extract of a veterinary article about the disease (which can also be found HERE )

University of Missouri, College of Veterinary Medicine

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Amy E. DeClue, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Small Animal Internal Medicine)

The interstitial space refers to the area in the lung between the alveolar epithelium and capillary endothelium. Interstitial lung disease is a broad category of inflammatory and fibrotic pulmonary diseases involving primarily the interstitial space. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), previously known as cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis, is a form of interstitial lung disease that has been recognized in dogs, cats and humans and is characterized by inflammation and fibrosis of the pulmonary interstitium and alveolus.
Histologic features of IPF are termed unusual interstitial pneumonia and include interstitial fibrosis with foci of fibroblasts or myofibroblasts, metaplasia of alveolar epithelium and interstitial smooth muscle hyperplasia. The diagnosis and treatment of IPF can be difficult since permanent loss of pulmonary function has often occurred before clinical signs are recognized. This condition is well characterized in humans and is associated with a poor prognosis regardless of treatment.

IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY FIBROSIS IN CATS

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a relatively uncommon condition in cats. The mean age of cats with IPF is 8 years with no apparent breed or sex predilection. Cats with IPF most commonly present for respiratory distress or cough and the duration of these signs is typically less than 6 months.

Physical examination findings include
tachypnea, increased inspiratory or mixed inspiratory and expiratory effort, and adventitial lung sounds. Generally, results of clinicopathologic and infectious disease
assessment are nonspecific in nature. Mild neutrophilic inflammation may be noted on cytologic analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in some cats. Radiographic findings
include dense patchy or diffuse interstitial, bronchial or alveolar infiltrates. Definitive diagnosis is based on histologic evaluation of lung tissue.
A variety of treatments have been proposed for the treatment of IPF in cats including corticosteroids and bronchodilators. Currently, there is no published evidence that any treatment has a positive or negative impact on the clinical outcome. Prognosis for cats with IPF is poor to grave. In one retrospective study, more than 50% of cats with IPF died or were euthanatized within weeks of diagnosis while only 30% survived for a year or more after
diagnosis.
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Mum couldn't find out much about this condition at the time but she has recently found several articles on IPF and it helps her be able to accept my going to the Bridge a bit easier than when she had lots of unanswered questions going around in her head about why I didn't get better and why my illness seemed different to other cats she'd read about with 'asthma'.

Anyway, afterlife is good at Rainbow Bridge. My wonderful, varmint eating girlfriend Lucy sent me a sweet candle holder for my memorial garden and some love-heart sky lanterns. Mum is going to add the pictures to the slideshow on my page.